Treatment and Prevention
The good news about this disease is that it's highly treatable, and blindness
can be avoided. Current treatment will stop eye damage, and eventually will
drive away the other symptoms too. The medication of choice is prednisone,*
a potent corticosteroid that depresses immune system activity. This medication
helps to resolve headache, eye, and heart problems associated with temporal
arteritis.
Usually, a high dose is given for two or three weeks to bring the inflammation
in the arteries under control. This is then tapered over a month or two. Doctors
do not like giving corticosteroids for too long, as they leave the patient vulnerable
to infectious disease and several other side effects. A few people, however,
need to keep taking low doses for a year or two before their doctor can be sure
that symptoms won't return. Sometimes the disease recurs a few times early in
treatment, and the dosage has to be temporarily raised. Temporal arteritis hardly
ever recurs after treatment is finally stopped.
The following side effects are associated with corticosteroid use, but are
much less likely with the lower doses given for temporal arteritis after the
first few weeks:
- diabetes
- easy bruising
- fluid retention and weight gain
- glaucoma
- higher blood pressure
- osteoporosis
- rounding of the facial features
- slower healing of wounds
- stomach irritation
Prednisone is also extremely effective against polymyalgia rheumatica, eliminating
symptoms within a day or two of the first dose. The drug is continued and tapered
off over six months to two years, and symptoms never return. This disease usually
disappears on its own anyway, but if you've had it, you should be on the lookout
for recurring headaches and other signs of temporal arteritis.
An immunosuppressant medication such as azathioprine may also be prescribed
along with the corticosteroid, which can reduce the amount of corticosteroid
taken in the long-term.
There's no easy way to prevent arteritis, but several studies have shown
a link between vascular (blood vessel) diseases of the eye and diets high in
animal fats, salt, and sugar. Smoking almost certainly doesn't help either.
Above all, see a doctor if you have the symptoms listed in "Symptoms and
Complications," above. As many as one in five people with this disease
will go blind without treatment, yet a simple visit to the doctor can prevent
any eye damage. You should also get your eyesight checked every two years if
you're over 50 years of age, and every year if you have diabetes.
*All medications have both common (generic) and brand names. The brand name
is what a specific manufacturer calls the product (e.g., Tylenol®).
The common name is the medical name for the medication (e.g., acetaminophen).
A medication may have many brand names, but only one common name. This article
lists medications by their common names. For more information on brand names,
speak with your doctor or pharmacist.